NASA TO HOST 31st LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE IN HOUSTON

New evidence that an ocean may once have existed on Mars will be among
this year's topics of interest at the 31st annual Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference (LPSC), March 13-17, 2000. The conference, which is
chaired by Dr. Carl B. Agee of NASA and Dr. David C. Black of the Lunar
and Planetary Institute, will be held at the NASA Johnson Space Center
and the University of Houston—Clear Lake (UHCL).

One highlight of this year's conference will be early results from the
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft, which went into orbit
around the asteroid Eros on February 14. As the first spacecraft to
orbit an asteroid, the NEAR mission promises to answer fundamental
questions about the nature and origin of asteroids in the vicinity of
Earth's orbit. These objects are of interest as the primary source of
large bodies that collide with Earth, greatly influencing the evolution
of the atmosphere and life on our planet. Early information, images and
data analysis from this mission will be presented by NEAR team members
during a special session of invited talks March 14.

Other presentations will focus on

results from the Galileo spacecraft's close fly-bys of
Jupiter's volcanic moon Io

new theories about the presence of water on early Mars

latest results from the Mars Global Surveyor's 2-year mapping mission

new views of the moon

the martian surface as seen by Mars Pathfinder and Viking

meteorites from the asteroids, the moon and Mars

astrobiology and the origin(s) of life in the universe

impact craters throughout the solar system

Oral presentations are scheduled all day Monday through Thursday, as
well as Friday morning in JSC's Gilruth Center. Dr. John Wood, meteorite
researcher from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, will
give the Harold Masursky Lecture at a special session Monday afternoon.
His topic will be "Chondrites: Tight-Lipped Witnesses to the Beginning."
Poster presentations are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday evenings
from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at UHCL’s Bayou Building.